Tobias Kuhn Full Paper

7/27/2019 Tobias Kuhn Full Paper

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THE I SLAM IC SECRET SCIENCE:

I ntention and confl ict: orders of the in-between

By Tobias Kuhn (BIGSAS, Bayreuth)

Abstract

This working paper aims to provide an insight into my dissertation, which challengesquestions of knowledge transmission, authority and conflict in the context of Senegalese SufiIslam. My dissertation project is based on several field research periods in Senegal between2005 and 2010. By analysing the use of different magical and spiritual techniques I looked atconcepts like secrecy and intentionality. During the fieldwork I followed two approaches: firstI accompanied Marabouts as an apprentice and tried to learn as much as possible about theirmagical science. Secondly I analyzed cases of conflicts in an inductive manner and therebyillustrated the views of the actors involved. One aim of my PhD Theses is to look from a

phenomenological perspective at the tensions and relation between a concrete socialdimension and an abstract esoteric dimension. After clarifying some major terms and givingan overview of the context, here I will mainly discuss two aspects of my theses: Firstly, theconcept of intention as part of the Islamic secret science,secondly, the nature of the conflictsarising with regard to the application of the spiritual science used by Senegalese Marabouts.

Marabouts in Senegal act as Quran teachers, leaders of economic and politic networks, as

healers, judges, mediators in conflict situations, spiritual and personal guides, magicians,

Coran teachers, psychologists and religious authorities. They use different social and magical

techniques in order to solve the problems of their clients. In the Senegalese society as well asin the community of Senegalese Marabouts there is an ongoing discourse about legitimate and

illegitimate use of magical science. Some of the used techniques seem to be incompatible; as

a result conflicts can arise, for example between indigenous esoteric knowledge and purely

Islamic ones. With regard function and practice the Marabout is a rather heterogeneous figure.

Therefore, using this term contains a risk because it lacks clearness and theoretical

consistence. The term is questioned and criticized also for other reasons. From a historical

perspective Seesemann considers the continuous uncritical application of the term Maraboutas an example of the persistence of colonial notions. At the beginning of the twentieth

century, when French authorities began to try to tighten their control over their Muslim

citizens in West Africa, Marabout became a label for village imams, amulet makers, and local

as well as regional saints. Marabout could signify anyone from a charlatan to the head of a

Sufi community, and it came to describe the paradigmatic prototype ofAfrican Islam which

seemed to differ from other Islam. By the 1950s, representatives of Islamic reform

movements and even secularists appropriated the term for polemical purposes, using it to

refer to Muslim leaders whom they saw as false saints and as collaborators with the colonial

regime. For Seesemann Maraboutism is the rhetorical device in which preconceived notions


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of African Islam and debased Sufism converge, it trivializes the religious experience of

African Muslims, it denies their capacity to rise to the spiritual heights of the real Sufis of

the Golden Age, and it presents them as ignorant and masses prone to superstition and

exploitation at the hands of fraudulent, self-interested leaders.1 Nevertheless, the terms

Marabout and Maraboutism have been employed to characterize West African Muslim

societies and expressions of Sufism in an uninterrupted chain well into the recent past2. Today

the term is used in the Senegalese society without a particularly negative connotation to

describe an ambiguous figure between a saint and a fraudulent magician. The history of this

term and particularly the existence of such actors, who consider themselves as Marabouts

seemed to underscore the idea of a (re)construction ofnew Islamic identities in a transforming

social and religious setting as many scientific approaches in the recent past suggest. 3 At this,

it is assumed that political liberalization, economic changement and increased global

interconnections have all profound effects on Muslim societies and the practice of Islam. In

these contributions the Marabout is often described as an adapting religious entrepreneur

inside a changing marked. In opposition to these constructive perspectives I aim here to

emphasis on some unchangingstructural aspects with regard to the practice of the Senegalese

Marabouts. Despite critics and lack of clearness I decided to use the term Marabout in my

theses, mainly because the term already incorporates the ambivalences between magic and

religion, between (re)construction and tradition, between continuity and transformation and

above all the term is used by the actors themselves. Being conscious about the heterogeneity

of the term Marabout I will follow a minimalistic definition in order to narrow down the term

and to point out the indispensible, timeless and outstanding characteristics:

1. A Marabout is an Islamic religious specialist and a teacher who is rooted in the context ofSufi Islam.

2. He applies a distinct Islamic secret science called ilm-al-asrar4.Even if some Senegalese Marabouts combine this science with other indigenous practicesthey have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the al-asrar otherwise they will not call

1 Seesemann (2011), S. 14 ff2. Paul Marty in the 1910s to Fernand Quesnot and Alphonse Gouilly in the 1950s, Jean-Claude Froelich andVincent Monteil in the1960s, Christian Coulon and Jean Copans in the 1980s, culminating in the publication ofthe edited volumeLe temps des marabouts in 1997. Lucy Behrman, Donal Cruise OBrien, and Martin Klein inthe 1960s and 1970s (in addition to Ernest Gellner in his studies of northern Africa); Christopher Gray in the1980s; Leonardo Villalon in the 1990s and Kuczinsky, Soares and Gemmeke between 2000 and 2010.3 cf Soares & Otayek (2008)4Al-asrar, the secrets, is the plural of the Arabic wordsirrit can be also translated as the inner heard ore the realnature, it is related to the verbsarra/yassuru what means being happy. So this word thus not really contains thesame ambivalent aspects of the English word secrecy, which derives from the Latin verbsecenere what means toseparate.


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themselves Marabout. Despite that fact, some authors use the term Marabout to describe all

kind of traditional healers and other magicians settled in Nord-West-Africa5. In recent

contributions Marabouts often also appear as actors which offer distinct Islamic services6 in

the occult market. Yet, focusing mainly on economical rationalities seems to me misleading in

the case of the West African Marabouts.

One reason for such one-sided interpretations is the ignorance of the nature and existence of a

distinctive Islamic secret science. The timeless, semantical and structural aspects of this

science are shaping the concrete and spiritual life of the Marabouts more than any changing

societal or economical realty. Without understanding the nature of their practice many aspects

of the Marabouts world remain vague. Most western scientists completely ignored the

existence of a distinctive Islamic secret science. And some of those who emphasized on the

weight of such anIslamic esoteric science7reduced it mainly to its functional and economical

aspects without taking in account the content.8 One of the aims of my dissertation was to

describe the ilm-al-asrar in its modes of application in order to differentiate it from other

practices and to put it in relation to societal and theological questions. I tried to give an insight

in the al-asrarby looking at its cosmology, its ethics, its mode of operating and knowledge

transmission and the metaphysical conception which underlies this science. It will burst the

frame to go in detail. However, I will shortly point out some significant characteristics:

1. The speech and writing of the Arabic literary language stays in the centre. La science deletter(al-simiya) which is part of the ilm-al-asrarcan be seen as the Islamic equivalent to

the Jewish kabala. 9

2. The central aim of the al-asrar is enlightening and transformation. The transformationimplies all aspects of the person until the subject itself gets an element of this science.

3. Essential for the application is the knowledge about theNames of God. This knowledge istransmitted in a tradition chain from one person to another. It enables the subject to do

spiritual research and to become a teacher.4. The spiritual centre of this knowledge is an unbroken tradition chain of epiphany which

goes back to the Prophet.

5. All real and reliable knowledge are transmitted by rawhani which are part of the angelichierarchies. It exist a strict distinction between spiritual entities who belongs to the

5 Gemmeke (2009)6 Soares (2005)7 The designationIslamic esoteric science is coined by Brenner (1985, 2000) in order to describe different

episteme of Islamic education. Afterwards the term was mainly used by Soares (2005, 2007) who was focusingon economical rationalities of the actors applying it.8 Soares (2007)9 Lory (2004)


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category ofdjinn and those who belong to the category of angels.Rawhani are not created

in the sense as humans ore djinns, they exist only through the invocation of the Names of

God.

One of the central hypotheses of my dissertation is that there are ongoing conflicts between

different magical techniques as well as between different social and theological conceptions,

concerning the application of the spiritual or secret science. I tried to show the nature of these

conflicts on an individual, societal and theological level. On the individual level the

confrontation with secrecy is a crucial point. Secrets are always something contested, so they

are one possible sources of conflict. What happens with the individual being introduced in a

secret and confronted with secrecy? Das Geheimnis, writes Georg Simmel in his Soziologie,

ist eine der grten Errungenschaften der Menschheit10. He refers mainly to the relation

between something secret and something what is publicly known as a constitutive element of

social structures. Following this conception, secrecy is constitutive for every person, family,

and for every social, political ore mystical body. From a normative point of view there are

good and bad secrets. The first one can constitute a positive relationship, whereas the second

is the basis for negative dynamics of dependency. Concerning the practice of the Marabouts,

the part which remains secret is always bigger as the part which opens up. With other words,

the initiation in a secret leaves you with a new level of secrecy and uncertainty at least in my

stage of knowledge. To be introduced in a secret does not mean to know the nature of the

secret; it means first and foremost to get part of something. By the means of elaborating my

own personal conflicts in the confrontation with secrecy I tried to go further in comparing

them with general societal problems in the research setting. On the societal level I observed

conflicts between different esoteric and magical practises. Examples for these conflicts are

mystical fights between Marabouts or between Marabouts and other magicians. Another

example are the differing attitudes towards a widely spread possession phenomenon which is

called the Rab. A Rab is seen as a kind of djinn who attacks certain family members undercertain circumstances, the ways of treating and interpreting this phenomenon differ strongly,

there are healing methods which try to reconcile the victim with theRab and other which are

more based on a kind of exorcism. Summing up, a result of my approach is that the concrete

application of the Islamic secret science remains ambivalent to the clients as well as to the

Marabout himself. In my thesis I also discuss the different aspects of this ambivalence with

regard to theological and moral questions.

10 Simmel (1992:406)
http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&p=Ci4HO3kMAA&search=summing&trestr=0x8004http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&p=Ci4HO3kMAA&search=up&trestr=0x8004http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&p=Ci4HO3kMAA&search=up&trestr=0x8004http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&p=Ci4HO3kMAA&search=summing&trestr=0x8004


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Especially the first part of my dissertation introduces into the requirements of such a research.

I pick up the issue of the emotional conditions of that kind of apprenticeship. I try to show

how different attitudes and episteme of learning affect the approach and the outcome of the

learning process. I try to show what happened between me and my Marabout, how it came

that I decided to become an apprentice and what are the means and conditions of knowledge

transmission in this setting. By analysing this processes I become aware that their structure

can be compared with Husserls phenomenological approach. Husserl declares that mental

and spiritual dimensions possess their own reality independent of any physical basis. At this,

the concept of intentionality plays a crucial role. I do not want go deeper into Husserl s

oeuvre because it will get too complicated. What I will do here is looking at the meaning of

intention in my research setting.

Phenomenologists share the assumption that there is no consciousness without intention, but

on the other hand there is a lot of intention without consciousness. With other words, there is

an interest behind every act of awareness, it is this interest which structures and limits our

way of becoming aware of something. Marabouts are convinced that most people are not able

to be conscious about the inner motivations or interests which are pushing them. According to

the Marabouts the intention is located in the heart of the person, it is not an idea but it is a

kind of motivation which predetermines human thinking and action. The transformation of

intention is a central concern of the al-asrar. The stages for this are, in a first step to become

aware of your own inner intentions, in a second step to work on your own intention and to

accelerate your capacity to take an intention and in the last step to design or to influence your

intention ore intentions of other people. This transformative process takes places by means of

interaction with the spiritual entities. The Marabout act inside this framework as a mediator

and guide. The transformation of the intentions of the subject is more or less something what

happens and not something what is achieved ore produced, theIslamic secret science provides

only the keys necessary to connect the subject. The comparison of the work of the Maraboutswith Husserls phenomenological approach on human consciousness is inspired by the

research of Knut Graw on senegambien divination practices. In his Paper, Locating Nganiyo:

Divination as an intentional Space11 he points out that the location of the intention of the

client plays a central role in divination practices. Following Graw, divination is not only about

knowing the future, but also about the creation of an intentional space which allows involving

the individual in a transformative process. Graw emphasises at the positive aspects of this

transformative process because he identifies the possible transformation of the perspectives

11 Graw (2006)


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and intentions of the individual as a way which allows the subject to develop a more positive

sense of his or her future. I cannot completely share Graws optimistic view on senegambien

divination practices because the so created intentional space also allows to manipulate and to

condition the subject. Yet, I follow his phenomenological approach which makes it possible to

overcome a purely descriptive view and to look at semantical and structural principles. Also

Marabouts create intentional spaces, they can do so towards their clients in a divination

section as well as they can do so towards their disciples. The means for creating such a space

are concrete technical ones but also abstract and mystical ones. Within the framework of a

teacher-apprentice relationship proving and transforming the intentions of the apprentice is

the beginning of every secret lection. From time to time the apprentice gets confronted with

his intentions, and the teacher shows simultaneously what the effects of these intentions are,

but the way how the Marabout do this remains rather secret.

Theoretically, I chose a comparative and partly phenomenological approach, simplified

spoken this means to overcome a purely descriptive and positivistic approach. The aim was to

look from the perspective of the actors at the relations and tensions between concrete social

and abstract spiritual dimensions. At the concrete social level we can observe what is

described by constructivists as an increasingly pluralizing and competitive religious marked.

Within the religious market Senegalese Marabouts are acting like entrepreneurs but within

my research setting they were acting like humans. All of them differ in intention and acting.

Despite that they share a common challenge which is determined by the rules of the al-asrar.

By looking at the substantial aspects of their spiritual practice I tried to overcome reductive

approaches which are mainly based on economical or functional rationalities. On the other

hand I describe also social dynamics and follow more constructive or (re)constructive ideas.

Personally, I feel a kind of being in-between, between the different approaches as well as

between different realities. In one way the modern urban Marabout and the Anthropologist

share something in common. Both are located between times, between cultures, betweentheories, between thinking and dreaming, between realties, between esoteric and science and

so on. In this sense I follow the famous anthropologist Paul Stoller who recently wrote a book

The Power of the Between12. According to him it seems to be the anthropologists fate to

always be between things. But rather than lament this, Stoller celebrates the creative power of

the between, showing how it can transform us, changing our conceptions of who we are, what

we know, and how we live in the world.

12 Stoller(2009)


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Literature

Brenner, Louis (2000). Controlling Knowledge. Religion, Power and Schooling in a WestAfrican Society. London: Hurst & Company.

Brenner, L (1985). The esoteric sciences in West African Islam. In: (Hrsg) Du Toit undAbdalla. African Healing Strategies. Buffalo: Trado-Medic-Books.

Graw, K. (2006).Locating Nganiyo: divination as intentional space. Journal of religion inAfrica, 36 (1), 78-119.

Hams C. Hrsg. (2007) Coran et talismans. Paris: Karthala.

Husserl (1913).Ideen zu einer reinen Phnomenologie und phnomenologischen Philosophie.Erstes Buch: Allgemeine Einfhrung in die reine Phnomenologie, Halle(Saale): Max

Niemeyer Verlag.Lory, Pierre (2004).La science de lettres en Islam. Paris: dition Dervy.

Seesemann (2011). Studying Sufism in Context. In print.

Simmel. G. (1908 [1992]). Soziologie. Untersuchungen ber die Formen derVergesellschaftung. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot Verlag,

Soares, B. (2007).Les sciences sotriques des musulmanes et le commerce des amulettes auMali. In : Hams C. Hrsg. (2007) Coran et talismans. Paris: Karthala.

Soares, Benjamin (2005).Islam and the Prayer Economy. Michigan: The University ofMichigan Press.

Soares & Otayek (2008).Islam and Muslim Politics in Africa. New York: Palgrave.

Stoller, Paul (2008). The Power of the Between, An Athropological Odyssey. Chicago: TheUniversity of. Chicago Press.

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